New NIP man isak was one of the breakout stars of the BLAST.tv Paris Major as he and GamerLegion went on an incredible run from 0-2 in the Challengers Stage to runners-up as they were defeated by Vitality in the grand final.
A year later, he found himself as the final man left standing from that roster until legendary Swedish organisation NIP gave him the call to round out their new roster.
With the Swede now playing on one of the most historic CS organisations in his nation’s history, we spoke to isak about the move, the goals of the new team, and his time on GamerLegion.
You've now joined NIP, how are you feeling about it?
It's a new feeling, but it's an exciting one. I'm just looking forward to starting with the new boys and getting to play as much as possible with them.
The team isn't completely Swedish but you have a Swedish core and NIP as it's history with legendary Swedish lineups, what does it mean to you to be part of NIP?
NIP was always one of the big names in Swedish CS alongside fnatic back in the day so it's a really nice feeling joining them. To get the Swedish flag back is a plus, but it doesn't matter too much.
What can you tell us about the new NIP team? Past teams have had issues with roles and leadership but how has this team been built?
I think it's been built really well. I think the last teams that NIP had weren't picked by the players in terms of the team that they wanted and more by the management.
This time THREAT and Xizt built the team for the most part and he's a guy I looked up to and wanted to work with for a while, so it's nice to have him with me now and knowing that he and THREAT are here makes me feel like the team is in good hands.
What was said to you in terms of goals for the team when you joined?
I haven't really had that conversation yet, but obviously, we want to be a stable team at the top. I think with some time and with everyone working in the right places that can happen, but it's up to us to make it happen.
There were a lot of changes on GamerLegion in the last year since the Paris Major with you being the last player left on the active roster, what was it like being the last player left and going through all that change?
It was annoying never having a team for a longer period of time. We always took steps forward just to take steps back because of changes.
It was taking a toll on me and I just wanted to take steps forward and be on the right path, but that's just how it is on teams sometimes. People don't always fit with each other or the roles don't fit and that's just what happens.
Were you surprised that with those issues you managed to stay at a decent level as a team?
I wouldn't say I was surprised, we worked very hard in GamerLegion and ashhh is a father figure to that team who always pushes the players to get better. He does so much work behind the scenes and he deserves a lot of the credit for us staying consistent during that time, we may not have got to many playoffs but we always got within a game of doing so.
Why do you think there were periods when the team struggled?
At the end of 2023 we had four events in a row and we started with a bootcamp as well so we were gone for a month and a half. In the first event, ESL Challenger Jonkoping, three of us were sick and snax could barely even speak, it was kinda rough [laughs].
Then we went to Elisa right after, travelled to Finland for that, and then we went home for literally a day and then we straight to Dubai and lost every game.
After that it was Atlanta so I think we were just burnt out, not getting as much time off as we needed and going from event to event like that is very rough.
What about 2024 and the Major cycle? Did you still not feel refreshed or did you know something else needed to change that wasn't related to burnout?
I felt like a change might be happening soon, we were always lacking something in the team and during the RMRs there were crucial moments when we were crumbling which prevented us from getting over the finish line. There were just mistakes we all made.
Changes happened before the Major was done with Keoz and acoR being benched, do you feel like you knew you needed a change at that point?
Yeah, for me it was going to be healthy if I got a change as well. I'd get fresh energy and new motivation because we were just going in a loop of playing well with a roster and then making changes, we'd grind back to a decent level and then there'd be another roster change.
With that in mind, how are you summing up your time with the team?
I can mostly take the good parts with me from GamerLegion. I got close with everyone who worked there in terms of the management and the players I played with and I respect them very much.
I hope that they also see me as a friend for life because that's how I see them after working for such a long time together and developing such a close bond.
I would sum up my time in GamerLegion by saying it was a perfect step to take my career to a professional level. We built up a team to top thirty and then making RMRs and Majors, I really liked it.
You said then that GamerLegion was a good step to build your professional career, how are you viewing NIP in terms of a step considering the fact that NIP has struggled for results in comparison to GamerLegion in the last twelve months? Do you need to build the team back up in order for it to even be considered a step up?
Yeah, we definitely need to build it from the ground up. It's going to be a fun ride but I think we also have players with experience to help us.
We have REZ who has been through stuff that I can only imagine in terms of all the roster changes, but that's given him a lot of good experience and alex is pretty experienced as well in that sense, he's been in the scene for a long time.
I also got a lot of experience with GamerLegion, but I still feel like I need more. We also have two more inexperienced players who are just really good individually.
I think it's a very exciting project and we have a lot of the right tools and resources to make something good happen but as I said, that's up to us.
You said you haven't spoken about goals as a team yet, but what sort of individual goals do you have for the team up until the end of the year?
For this year I want to make sure we get our fundamentals down within the team. We need to get everything smooth in terms of gameplay and I want everyone to feel like we're in a family and that's how I've already been welcomed.
Results-wise, I just want us to place highly in every tournament we play. I want to at least be a stable playoff team to start off with. I want to play in the playoffs because we were always so close with GamerLegion and so close to getting on stage, and I just want to go out there and play on stages.
I think for this year we just need to grind our way up and get enough ESL points to get invited to some nice tournaments and build from there.
BLAST ApS., Hauser Plads 1, 3., 1127 Copenhagen